Spines/Rad Brute. Would like to tank incarnate-level content.

[Sunsette]

Attached my build file to the post. My primary concern is tanking at endgame with this character, but I guess since they are a Spines Brute I wanted to also give farming a bit of a try too? First serious effort with a brute since before sundown of Live, so feedback appreciated.
 

 

Chernobyl Rose.mxd

Edited August 11, 2019 by Sunsette

[HelenCarnate]

Wow, this is rare but I have almost no way to make your build better.  The only thing I can see is that you would using Ageless and have Radiation Therapy on a short enough recharge that you should not have any endurance issues if you were to drop the 2nd slot from Stamina and could put it any number of places for either more fire/cold defense or more HP.  Any other changes to increase damage would decrease your durability which is not really a trade off you want if you are going the tanking route.  You can also use Enzyme Exposure HO in Beta Decay for a little bit more -To Hit and with only a slight increase in endurance use.

[Hyperstrike]

Alternate take on your build.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Chernobyl Rose (Redux): Level 50 Mutation Brute
Primary Power Set: Spines
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Armor
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Lunge -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(40), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(42), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(42)
Level 1: Alpha Barrier -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(5), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(7), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(7), GldArm-3defTpProc(17)
Level 2: Spine Burst -- Arm-Dmg/Rchg(A), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Arm-Acc/Rchg(43), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Arm-Dam%(45)
Level 4: Gamma Boost -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(45)
Level 6: Proton Armor -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(9), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(9), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(19)
Level 8: Impale -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(29), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(34), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(37)
Level 10: Fallout Shelter -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(11), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(13), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
Level 12: Kick -- FrcFdb-Rechg%(A)
Level 14: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(15), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(15), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 16: Radiation Therapy -- Mlt-Acc/Dmg(A), Mlt-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Mlt-Dmg/Rchg(50), Mlt-Acc/EndRdx(50), Mlt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 18: Quills -- SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(19), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(27)
Level 20: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(21), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(21)
Level 22: Beta Decay -- AchHee-ResDeb%(A)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(25), Rct-ResDam%(25)
Level 26: Ripper -- SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBrtFur-Dmg/Rchg(46), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), SprBrtFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), SprBrtFur-Rech/Fury(48)
Level 28: Particle Shielding -- DctWnd-Heal/Rchg(A), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(45)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(31), Ksm-ToHit+(31)
Level 32: Throw Spines -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(34), SprFrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(34)
Level 35: Ground Zero -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(37)
Level 38: Meltdown -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(39), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(39), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 41: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Super Jump -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 47: Superior Conditioning -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 49: Physical Perfection -- RgnTss-Regen+(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(3), Pnc-Heal/+End(5)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(3)
Level 50: Void Radial Final Judgement
Level 50: Ageless Core Epiphany
Level 50: Melee Radial Embodiment
Level 50: Diamagnetic Core Flawless Interface
Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon
------------

 

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[Constantine]

I have to admit, the build does look very impressive, although in my opinion there's still plenty of room for improvement. After fiddling with it in mids, I came up with 2 alternative iterations, which I think should improve your overall performance.

 

Let's start with the simple one.

You don't really need the extra set of Kinetic Combat in Brawl as you are already at 45% S/L even without it, and put those slots in BS, SB and Impale for the extra 15% F/C def. I guess you wanted to overshoot a bit t to be 1 small purple away from incarnate softcap, but in reality that's hardly going to matter, as you'll pretty much always have at least a couple people with Maneuvers on your team. Also, I'm not sure if it is intended, but you're using 3 pieces of Reactive Armor and 1 piece of Unbreakable Guard in Meltdown. Swapping to 4 pieces of RA will give you an extra 1.25 S/L def bonus, that will put you at pretty much the S/L softcap even without Melee Hybrid. And that leads me to my next point -  switch Melee for Assault Radial. Your build already has pretty insane survivability, so you should focus on brute's primary task, which is dealing damage. I'd also swap Diamagnetic Interface for Degenerative Core, as the debuffs are hardly going to matter vs normal enemies, and the AVs resist them anyway, so you're going to get way more milage out -HP. Finally, you can safely drop one slot from health and put it elsewhere, for example an extra Preventive Medicine in Radiation Therapy or a -Res proc in Meltdown. Rad armor already has extremely good endurance/health management tools, so you can easily get away with only a single Panacea proc in Health.

 

Anyway, here's the build with proposed changes:

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Ok, now for the second one.

This build uses Barrier instead of Ageless, which gives it higher defensive stats with softcapped S/L/N/E/F/C/Melee defense (well, 0.9% off on F/C, but close enough) and 5-10% higher resists across the board. Of course this comes at a cost of, well, losing Ageless. And while endurance part of it is pretty irrelevant on a /Rad, losing the extra recharge can be pretty significant, given your rather low global recharge. I've managed to squeeze in an extra 8.75% bonus from the full set of Preventive Medicine, but I'm not sure if it's going to be enough. Either way, you should try it yourself and see how it fares.

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

[Sunsette]

Was going high due to def debuffs, though in play I am definitely feeling like I overshot out of habit; too used to playing def-only characters, this was my first with resistance.

Definitely have been feeling like I could loosen up defensively with my incarnate choices. My biggest concern defensively so far is energy damage, and I'm probably going to switch to barrier to deal with it rather than shave the extra seconds with meltdown; not a lot of fights last long enough to need both.

 

Overall am pretty happy with the build; I can survive most anything except standing in Battle Maiden fields (and even that when I meltdown) and have excellent AoE threat with solid enough ST threat; I lose it sometimes to other incarnate tanks but that's OK, Spines isn't a winner on ST damage to begin with.